1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated information communication system connecting information communication equipments or information communication systems such as personal computers, LANs (Local Area Networks), telephones (including cellular phones), FAXs (Facsimile), CATVs (Cable Television), Internet and the like, not only via dedicated lines, but also via ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), FR (Frame Relay), ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), IPX (Integrated Packet Exchange), satellite, wireless and public lines. Integrated information communication equipments perform communication provided with an address (for information communication) for distinguishing the integrated information communication equipment from other equipment. Particularly, the present invention relates to an integrated information communication system which integrates data transfer services based on connection-less networks (e.g., RFC791 or RFC1883 IP (Internet Protocol) technology) and improves the overall economics of the information communication system by employing a unified address system, and ensuring security to realize interactive communications between connected terminals or systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In accordance with computer and information communication technology, computer communication networks have in recent years come to be widely used in universities, research institutes, government organizations, and intra-corporation/inter-corporation situations. LANs are used for intra-corporation communication networks, and in the event that the geographic locale is on a national basis, the form thereof becomes such as shown in FIG. 1. In the example described in FIG. 1, each local LAN uses a common protocol, with each being connected by dedicated lines. Here, e.g., a corporation X has LAN-X1, LAN-X2 and LAN-X3 as LANs, a corporation Y has LAN-Y1, LAN-Y2 and LAN-Y3 as LANs, and both corporations X and Y use communication address systems ADX and ADY for performing computer communications. Since it is necessary to lay a separate dedicated line for each corporation with such a LAN network, system architecture becomes costly, and in the event that connection is to be made to a LAN network of another corporation, interfacing must be matched such as the communication address system, making inter-connection very difficult and very costly.
On the other hand, the Internet has recently become widespread as a global-scale computer communication network. On the Internet, networks are connected using a router of a provider, a communication protocol called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is employed, dedicated lines or FR networks are used for connecting remote areas, and Ethernets which are 10 Mbps LANs or FDDIs (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) which are 10 Mbps LANs are used as communication paths within structures. FIG. 2 shows an example of an Internet connection, in which the routers in the providers maintain mutual connection by exchanging routing table connection information. Each router is connected to a plurality of networks, and judgment is made based on the routing table regarding to which router connected to which provider""s network received data should go next. Thus, on the Internet, the IP address attached to each IP packet (IP datagram) is checked, judgment is made to which router the IP packet should be sent, and that IP packet is sent accordingly. Thus, IP packets are transferred one after another and delivered to the destination computer, by means of all routers performing the above-described operation.
FIG. 3 illustrates the information contents of an RFC791 IP packet used by the Internet, divided into a control field and a data field. FIG. 4 illustrates the information contents of a similar RFC1883, divided into a control field and a data field. In either figure, the parentheses ( )indicate the number of bits.
However, with the Internet, the path control is restricted by IP, so that one cannot tell whether the other party with which communication is being made is the authorized party, and the system is such that the communication path is not administrated in an integrated manner, meaning that there are problems regarding security in that information may be eavesdropped. Also, in reality, addresses within the LANs are being separately decided by the LAN users, so there is the necessity to replace the LAN user addresses when connecting the LAN to the Internet. Also, communication quality such as communication speed and communication error rate for the trunk lines making up the Internet communication path differ from one line to another for each LAN, and are practically non-uniform. Also, there are problems such as an attempt to send a 10 Mbps TV signal for video-conferencing not achieving the desired communication speed. Further, there is no administrator for performing maintenance of the network such as in the case of failure, or for integrating the overall network for future planning for the network and so forth. Also, with LAN networks and the Internet, the terminals are personal computers (computers), and it has been difficult to use telephones, FAX and CATV in an integrated manner therein.
The present embodiment has been made in accordance with the above-described situations, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an integrated information communication system capable of containing a plurality of VANs (Value Added Networks) which perform IP packet transfer of which security and reliability in communications has been ensured, by means of not using dedicated lines or the Internet so as to improve economic considerations of the information communication system architecture, and ensuring communication speed, communication quality and communication trouble countermeasure in a unified manner. Also, it is another object of the present invention to provide an integrated information communication system which uses a single information transfer which is not dependent on the type of service, such as sound, image (motion and still), text, etc., so as to inter-connect services which have conventionally been provided separately, such as total communication services, analog/digital telephone line services, Internet provider services, FAX services, computer data exchange services, CATV services and so forth. Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide an integrated information communication system which enables inter-corporation communication with very little change to the computer communication address systems which have been independently and separately created within each separate corporation (including universities, research institutes, government organizations, etc.).
The present invention relates to an integrated information communication system, and the above objects of the present invention are realized as follows: the present invention is configured by providing an access control apparatus for connecting a plurality of computer communication networks or information communication equipment to each other, and a relay device for networking the aforementioned access control apparatus, the system having functions for performing routing by transferring information by a unified address system, and is configured such that the aforementioned plurality of computer communication networks or information communication equipments can perform communications in an interactive manner. In FIG. 1 which is given as an example of a conventional arrangement, the range of dedicated lines used for intra-corporation and inter-corporation communications is indicated by solid lines, and this is replaced with the equivalent of a computer communications network according to IP as a common communication network indicated by broken lines.
The above-described objects of the present invention are achieved by an ICS (Information Communication System) user packet having a unique ICS user address system ADX being converted into an ICS network packet having an address system ADS, based on the administration of a conversion table provided within an access control apparatus, and by being arranged such that in the case that transmission is made over at least one VAN contained therein following rules of the aforementioned address system ADS, and the destination other access control apparatus is reached, conversion is made to the aforementioned ICS user address system ADX based on the administration of the aforementioned conversion table, and another external information communication apparatus is reached. Also, the above-described objects of the present invention are achieved by an ICS user packet having a unique ICS user address system ADX being converted into an ICS network packet corresponding with a reception ICS network address registered beforehand to the conversion table in accordance with a user logic communication line, rather than using an ICS user address within the aforementioned ICS user packet based on the administration of a conversion table provided within the access control apparatus, and by being arranged such that in the case that transmission of the aforementioned ICS network packet is made to another access control apparatus via at least one VAN following rules of the ICS address system ADS, the transfer destination of the aforementioned ICS network packet being either 1 or N, this is returned to the aforementioned ICS network packet based on the administration of a conversion table provided within the aforementioned access control apparatus, and another external information communication apparatus is reached.